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The Alton Bus Crash (Disaster)
by Juan P. CarmonaA September morning in 1989 changed Alton's history forever. At 7:34 a.m., a Dr Pepper truck collided with Mission School Bus no. 6. After the bus and its occupants plunged into a water-filled caliche pit, twenty-one students lost their lives. The resulting investigation flooded the small South Texas community with reporters and lawyers. The heavily scrutinized legal battle divided the city, but it did ultimately produce changes in school bus safety that continue to save lives today. Juan Carmona navigates the complicated legacy of the tragic accident and its aftermath.
The Alzheimer Conundrum: Entanglements of Dementia and Aging
by Margaret LockWhy our approaches to Alzheimer's and dementia are problematic and contradictoryDue to rapidly aging populations, the number of people worldwide experiencing dementia is increasing, and the projections are grim. Despite billions of dollars invested in medical research, no effective treatment has been discovered for Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. The Alzheimer Conundrum exposes the predicaments embedded in current efforts to slow down or halt Alzheimer’s disease through early detection of pre-symptomatic biological changes in healthy individuals.Based on a meticulous account of the history of Alzheimer’s disease and extensive in-depth interviews, Margaret Lock highlights the limitations and the dissent associated with biomarker detection. Lock argues that basic research must continue, but should be complemented by a public health approach to prevention that is economically feasible, more humane, and much more effective globally than one exclusively focused on an increasingly harried search for a cure.
The Amateur Archaeologist
by Stephen WassThis informed and practical guide shows how anyone with an interest can take part in archaeology at many different levels, whether through fieldwork undertaken individually or by joining an excavation. Stephen Wass, himself an enthusiast with long experience, provides all that a beginner needs to know: what is archaeology all about? the range of skills that can be learnt examples of ideas for projects advice on what to expect on a dig clear explanations of archaeological techniques. There are some 177 local archaeological societies in Britain with 40,000 members, as well as numerous school, extramural and university courses in archaeology. It is one professional area in which the amateur, however inexperienced, can still not only participate but also make a real contribution and this book positively encourages people to join in.
The Amazing Adventures of Phoenix Jones
by Jon RonsonBestselling author Jon Ronson walks the mean streets of America where he finds real life, modern day superheroes. Fighting crime, saving old ladies, and chasing away drug dealers - all while wearing a mask and a cape. Phoenix Jones patrols Seattle, masked, muscles rippling, while corner boys scatter and teenage runaways are helped, whether they want it or not. He might still see his pediatrician when superhero-ing gets a little too intense, but he'll be back out there with his ass-kicking comrades as soon as he's bandaged up. These do-gooding citizens talk the talk, and walk the walk of mythical superheroes - the only thing they're missing is actual supernatural powers. The Amazing Adventures of Phoenix Jones is an inside, intimate look at the world of amateur superheroes and a front row seat to their adventures.
The Amazing Civil War
by Webb GarrisonAn illustrated compendium of obscure facts and little-known wonders from the Civil War Era, a perfect gift for history buffs and Civil war enthusiasts. With three million soldiers scattered along a 10,000-mile front and more than 1,000 engagements, the Civil War was one in which fascinating anecdotes, colorful stories, humorous tales, and unusual coincidences were frequent. Historian Webb Garrison has gathered together these hidden gems in this fully illustrated and indexed book. The Amazing Civil War is an intriguing untold history of the war between the states by the author of the bestselling Civil War Curiosities.
The Amazing Crawfish Boat (Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World Series)
by John LaudunIn any given year, the Louisiana crawfish harvest tops 50,000 tons. The Amazing Crawfish Boat chronicles the development of an amphibious boat that transformed the Louisiana prairies into alternating fields of aquaculture and agriculture. In seeking to understand how such a machine came into being, John Laudun describes the ideas and traditions that have long been a part of the Louisiana landscape and how they converged at a particular moment in time to create a new economic opportunity for both the rice farmers who used them and the fabricators who made them.Walking fields with farmers and working in shops with fabricators, Laudun gives readers a rich portrait of the Louisiana prairies and the people who live and work on them. The Amazing Crawfish Boat seeks to unearth the complex mix of folk cultures that underlie a variety of traditions that are now seen as native to an area populated not just by Cajuns but also by Germans and other groups. Over the years, this diverse mix of cultures has produced an astonishing set of artifacts that demonstrate not only their ability to adapt, but their ability to innovate, and the crawfish boat is a great example of such creativity produced by individuals deeply embedded in their culture and place.While the lives of artists and scientists have been examined for what they tell us about innovation, The Amazing Crawfish Boat seeks to address creativity as part of a larger cultural complex of ideas and behaviors. To ascertain this inventiveness, Laudun examines the historical and cultural trends that led to this creation, drawing from archives, oral histories, and ethnographic accounts. He investigates the shops and sheds where farmers and fabricators work, revealing the immense imagination and intelligence that lie behind the bolts, welds, and hydraulic lines that hold the boats together and, in so doing, hold a way of life together.
The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt and Other Blackfoot Stories: Three Hundred Years of Blackfoot History
by Hugh Aylmer DempseyThe result of more than forty years of research, The Amazing Death of Calf Shirt and Other Blackfoot Stories is a unique oral history spanning three hundred years of the Blackfoot people. Dating back as far as 1690, the stories collected here by Hugh Dempsey tell of renowned Blackfoot warriors such as Calf Shirt and Low Horn, of those who tried to adapt to a changing world, and of others who rebelled against the government's attempts to control their lives. These stories are factual, based on extensive interviews with Blackfoot elders as well as research into government documents, accounts of early travelers, and records kept by missionaries, Indian Department officials, and the Mounted Police. "Once free and independent buffalo hunters, the members of the Blackfoot Nation - the Blood, Blackfoot, and Peigan - were forced onto reserves in the 1880s. These stories portray the problems and traumas accompanying those changes: the clash of Native and white cultures and the hardships the Blackfoot endured through years of poverty on their new reserves. The elders' tales are reminiscences on buffalo hunts, exciting raids on enemy camps, and the freedom of wandering the prairies. Good and evil spirits being an everyday reality of Blackfoot life, the stories also explore the supernatural."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Amazing Jimmi Mayes: Sideman to the Stars (American Made Music Series)
by Jimmi MayesAssociation of Recorded Sound Collections Awards for ExcellenceBest Research in Recorded Blues, Hip-Hop, Rhythm & Blues – Certificate of Merit (2014)For more than fifty years, Chicago drummer Jimmi Mayes served as a sideman behind some of the greatest musicians and musical groups in history. He began his career playing the blues in the juke joints of Mississippi, sharpened his trade under the mentorship of drum legends Sam Lay and Fred Below in the steamy nightclubs of south Chicago, and hit it big in New York City behind such music legends as Tommy Hunt from the Flamingos, Marvin Gaye, and James Brown.Mayes played his drums behind blues giants Little Walter Jacobs, Jimmy Reed, Robert Junior Lockwood, Earl Hooker, Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. He lived for a while with Motown sensation Martha Reeves and her family and traveled with the Shirelles and the Motown Review. Jimi Hendrix was one of Mayes's best friends, and they traveled together with Joey Dee and the Starliters in the mid-1960s.Mayes lived through racial segregation, the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the integration of rock bands, and the emergence of Motown. He personally experienced the sexual and moral revolutions of the sixties, was robbed of his musical royalties, and survived a musical drought. He's been a pimp and a drug pusher--and lived to tell the tale when so many musicians have not. This sideman to the stars witnessed music history from the best seat in the house--behind the drum set.
The Amazing McNugget Diet
by Chuck KlostermanOriginally collected in Chuck Klosterman IV and now available both as a stand-alone essay and in the ebook collection Chuck Klosterman on Living and Society, this essay is about Chicken McNuggets.
The Amazon Várzea: The Decade Past and the Decade Ahead
by Christine Padoch Mauro L. Ruffino Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez Eduardo S. BrondízioThis book takes a multi-disciplinary and critical look at what has changed over the last ten years in one of the world's most important and dynamic ecosystems, the Amazon floodplain or várzea. It also looks forward, assessing the trends that will determine the fate of environments and people of the várzea over the next ten years and providing crucial information that is needed to formulate strategies for confronting these looming realities.
The Amazonian Puzzle: Ethnic Positionings and Social Mobilizations
by Véronique BoyerIn the Brazilian Amazon region, cultural “mixture” is expressed in the interaction of city and hinterland, of Indigenous and Black, of religiosity and politics. By examining the multiple cultural and ethnic threads that traverse this landscape, The Amazonian Puzzle sets out to show how the category of caboclo (a powerful spiritual entity to some, and to others a despised peasant of mixed ancestry) reveals deep currents of ethnic recompositions, religious interpenetration, and social hierarchy. These Amazonian dynamics are explored through the lens of ethnography, sociology, and history.
The Amazonian “Other”: Representations of Indigenous Peoples in Contemporary Cultural Texts
by Aleksandra WieruckaThis book explores representations of Amazonian Indigenous peoples in contemporary cultural texts. It analyzes a variety of mediums from novels and films to games and exhibitions, uncovering a distorted image of Indigenous peoples of the Amazon in Euro-American common imagination. The author suggests that these texts rely on a stereotypical vision that was shaped in the first decades of colonization. The chapters consider the formation of the image of Amazonian Indigenous people throughout history and some of the contemporary issues they face, touching on daily life and themes such as shamanism and cannibalism. Together they highlight the misrepresented image of Indigenous groups in the Amazon, who are portrayed as different, even strange, in relation to Western culture. The argument put forward is that both “exotic” and “self-exoticization” rely on the notion of otherness, leading to romanticization, patronization, and caricature. The book will be of particular interest to scholars of Indigenous studies, Latin American studies, cultural studies, anthropology, and comparative literature.
The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World
by Adrienne MayorThe real history of the Amazons in war and loveAmazons—fierce warrior women dwelling on the fringes of the known world—were the mythic archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Heracles and Achilles displayed their valor in duels with Amazon queens, and the Athenians reveled in their victory over a powerful Amazon army. In historical times, Cyrus of Persia, Alexander the Great, and the Roman general Pompey tangled with Amazons.But just who were these bold barbarian archers on horseback who gloried in fighting, hunting, and sexual freedom? Were Amazons real? In this deeply researched, wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated book, National Book Award finalist Adrienne Mayor presents the Amazons as they have never been seen before. This is the first comprehensive account of warrior women in myth and history across the ancient world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Great Wall of China.Mayor tells how amazing new archaeological discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons prove that women warriors were not merely figments of the Greek imagination. Combining classical myth and art, nomad traditions, and scientific archaeology, she reveals intimate, surprising details and original insights about the lives and legends of the women known as Amazons. Provocatively arguing that a timeless search for a balance between the sexes explains the allure of the Amazons, Mayor reminds us that there were as many Amazon love stories as there were war stories. The Greeks were not the only people enchanted by Amazons—Mayor shows that warlike women of nomadic cultures inspired exciting tales in ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Central Asia, and China.Driven by a detective's curiosity, Mayor unearths long-buried evidence and sifts fact from fiction to show how flesh-and-blood women of the Eurasian steppes were mythologized as Amazons, the equals of men. The result is likely to become a classic.
The Ambiguity of Virtue
by Bernard WassersteinIn May 1941, Gertrude van Tijn arrived in Lisbon on a mission of mercy from Germanâe#144;occupied Amsterdam. She came with Nazi approval to the capital of neutral Portugal to negotiate the departure from Hitler's Europe of thousands of German and Dutch Jews. Was this middleâe#144;aged Jewish woman, burdened with such a terrible responsibility, merely a pawn of the Nazis, or was her journey a genuine opportunity to save large numbers of Jews from the gas chambers? In such impossible circumstances, what is just action, and what is complicity? A moving account of courage and of all-too-human failings in the face of extraordinary moral challenges, The Ambiguity of Virtue tells the story of Van Tijn's work on behalf of her fellow Jews as the avenues that might save them were closed off. Between 1933 and 1940 Van Tijn helped organize Jewish emigration from Germany. After the Germans occupied Holland, she worked for the Naziâe#144;appointed Jewish Council in Amsterdam and enabled many Jews to escape. Some later called her a heroine for the choices she made; others denounced her as a collaborator. Bernard Wasserstein's haunting narrative draws readers into the twilight world of wartime Europe, to expose the wrenching dilemmas that confronted Jews under Nazi occupation. Gertrude van Tijn's experience raises crucial questions about German policy toward the Jews, about the role of the Jewish Council, and about Dutch, American, and British responses to the persecution and mass murder of Jews on an unimaginable scale.
The Ambition Decisions: What Women Know About Work, Family, and the Path to Building a Life
by Hana Schank Elizabeth Wallace"These are the 'know your value' conversations that we need to have. These women--their challenges, choices, and successes--are all of us." --Mika BrzezinskiOver the last sixty years, women's lives have transformed radically from generation to generation. Without a template to follow--a way to peek into the future to catch a glimpse of what leaving this job or marrying that person might mean to us decades from now--women make important decisions blindly, groping for a way forward, winging it, and hoping it all works out.As they faced unexpectedly fraught decisions about their own lives, journalists Hana Schank and Elizabeth Wallace found themselves wondering about the women they'd graduated alongside. What happened to these women who seemed set to reap the rewards of second-wave feminism, on the brink of taking over the world? Where did their ambition lead them?So they tracked down their classmates and, over several hundred hours of interviews, gathered and mapped data about real women's lives that has been missing from our conversations about women and the workplace. Whether you're deciding if you should pass up a promotion in favor of more flex time, planning when to get pregnant, or wondering what the ramifications are of being the only person in your house who ever unloads the dishwasher, The Ambition Decisions is a guide to the changes that may seem arbitrary but are life defining, by women who've been there.Organized by theme, each chapter draws on real women's stories of facing down crisis, transition, and decision-making to illustrate broader trends Schank and Wallace observed. Each chapter wraps up with a useful bulleted list of questions to consider and tips to integrate that will guide women of all ages along the way to finding purpose and passion in work and life.
The America Play and Other Works
by Suzan-Lori Parks"Parks has burst through every known convention to invent a new theatrical language, like a jive Samuel Beckett, while exploding American cultural myths and stereotypes along the way.... She's passionate and jokey and some kind of genius."--Vogue
The America Syndrome: Apocalypse, War, and Our Call to Greatness
by Betsy HartmannHas apocalyptic thinking contributed to some of our nation's biggest problems—inequality, permanent war, and the despoiling of our natural resources? From the Puritans to the present, historian and public policy advocate Betsy Hartmann sheds light on a pervasive but—until now—invisible theme shaping the American mindset: apocalyptic thinking, or the belief that the end of the world is nigh. Hartmann makes a compelling case that apocalyptic fears are deeply intertwined with the American ethos, to our detriment. In The America Syndrome, she seeks to reclaim human agency and, in so doing, revise the national narrative. By changing the way we think, we just might change the world.
The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and The Rise of the Third Reich
by Max WallaceHenry Ford and Charles Lindbergh have long been exalted as two of the greatest American icons of the twentieth century. From award-winning journalist Max Wallace comes groundbreaking and astonishing revelations about the poisonous effect these two so-called American heroes had on Western democracy. In his wide ranging investigation, Wallace goes further than any other historian to expose how Ford and Lindbergh-acting in league with the Nazis-almost brought democratic Europe to the verge of extinction. <p><p> With unprecedented access to declassified FBI and military intelligence files, Wallace reveals how the close friendship and ideological bond between automotive pioneer Ford and aviator Lindbergh culminated in an abuse of power that helped strengthen Hitler's regime and undermined the Allied war effort. Wallace traces Henry Ford's ties to Nazi Germany back as far as the 1920s, presenting compelling evidence of a financial paper trail proving that Ford subsidized the rise to power of Adolph Hitler, who described Ford as "my inspiration." For the first time, the genesis of Ford's notorious Anti-Semitism is uncovered: The American Axis proves that Ford's private secretary and life-long confidante was a German spy, who channeled his employer's Jew-baiting crusades to further the cause of the Third Reich. <p> Lindbergh's own anti-Semitism and white-Supremacist views captured the attention of the Nazis, who soon manipulated him in their clandestine Fifth Column efforts. As the first unauthorized biographer to gain access to the Lindbergh archives, Wallace paints a substantially more chilling portrait of Lindbergh's pre-war activities than any previous historian and produces new evidence that the Nazis secretly plotted to install Lindbergh as the leader of the movement to keep America out of World War Two. <p> The most controversial corporate investigation since IBM and the Holocaust, the book reveals that the Ford Motor Company's military and political complicity in the Third Reich war effort was considerably stronger than the company has acknowledged and that a US Army post-war investigation concluded that the company had become "an arsenal of Nazism." Wallace disputes a recent internal investigation into the use of slave labor at Ford's German plant during World War II - which company officials claimed as a vindication of its wartime activities - and reveals that corporate President Edsel Ford was about to be indicted by the US government for "Trading With the Enemy" at the time of his 1943 death. <p> The American Axis is not only a mesmerizing, cautionary tale, but a compelling historical exposé.
The American Beach Cookbook
by Marsha Dean PheltsFrom its founding in 1935 to the present, trips to American Beach have meant good times, good friends, and great food. Located on Amelia Island in northeast Florida and established by the Pension Bureau of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company, American Beach today is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains a beloved vacation destination as well as a year-round home for many African Americans. For The American Beach Cookbook, Marsha Dean Phelts has collected nearly 300 recipes passed down through generations. Over the years, many influences have found their way into the dishes and are represented here by everything from pig's feet to sweet potato pone and from smothered shrimp to bourbon slushes. Mouths will water at such treats as fried cheese grits, she-crab soup, seafood casserole, crab coated shrimp chops, cornbread dumplings, chicken curry, corn relish, pickled peaches, Big Mama's fruitcake, and much more. In addition to the recipes, readers will enjoy compelling vignettes that illustrate the heritage of people and potables, vintage photographs, and area maps that together tell one of the great stories of a unique community.
The American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies: 1993
by Patt Leonard Rebecca RouthThis bibliography, first published in 1957, provides citations to North American academic literature on Europe, Central Europe, the Balkans, the Baltic States and the former Soviet Union. Organised by discipline, it covers the arts, humanities, social sciences, life sciences and technology.
The American Book of Living and Dying: Lessons in Healing Spiritual Pain
by Henriette Anne Klauser Richard GrovesFor most people, the thought of dying or caring for a terminally ill friend or family member raises fears and questions as old as humanity: What is a "good death"? What appropriate preparations should be made? How do we best support our loved ones as life draws to its close? In this nondenominational handbook, Richard F. Groves and Henriette Anne Klauser provide comfort, direction, and hope to the dying and their caregivers through nine archetypal stories that illustrate the most common end-of-life concerns. Drawing from personal experiences, the authors offer invaluable guidance on easing emotional pain and navigating this difficult final passage. With a compelling new preface, this edition also features an overview of the hospice movement; a survey of Celtic, Tibetan, Egyptian, and other historic perspectives on the sacred art of dying; as well as various therapies, techniques, and rituals to alleviate suffering, stimulate reflection, and strengthen interpersonal bonds. "The American Book of Living and Dying" gives us courage to trust our deepest instincts, and reminds us that by telling the stories of those who have passed, we remember, honor, and continue to learn from them.
The American City in Crime Films: Criminology and the Cinematic City (Routledge Studies in Crime, Culture and Media)
by Andrew J. BaranauskasAnalyzing crime movies set in Detroit, Miami, Boston, Las Vegas, and the fictional Gotham City, this book examines the role that American cities play as characters in crime films. Furthering our awareness of how popular media shapes public understanding of crime and justice in American cities, this book contributes to scholarship in popular criminology by providing insight into the development of criminological theory in cinematic representations of crime and urban space. Each chapter focuses on a different city, starting with an overview of the social, economic, and political history of the city and proceeding to discuss the cinematic depiction of crime and justice in the city. At the heart of each chapter is a discussion of themes that are common across films set in each city. For each theme, the book makes connections to the criminological theory discussed in that chapter and concludes by focusing on real-world implications that stem from the social construction of urban crime in crime films.Bridging the gap between criminology and media studies, The American City in Crime Films will appeal to students of criminology and media studies, and urban sociology/criminology.
The American Civil War in British Culture
by Nimrod TalImprinted onto the political discourse, military thought, intellectual life and popular culture, no other foreign conflict left such a deep, lasting mark on British culture as did the American Civil War. Britain's leading politicians, strategists, and thinkers have kept turning to the American conflict from the 1870s to the present, as has the British public more broadly. Drawing on political records, military writings, academic studies, films and interviews, as well as on a wide array of previously unpublished material, this book traces the sources of Britons' appeal to the American conflict and their use of its representations. While people from the United Kingdom often found the American Civil War useful to buttress their views on domestic affairs, the records show that the British used the war and its memory also to advance their interests in the United States, thus making the phenomena examined in this book both local and transatlantic.
The American Class Structure (6th edition)
by Dennis GilbertHistory of class development in the United States